The “octopus oracle” is back at it, predicting that the Netherlands will fall to Spain in the World Cup final

Nike’s “flashforward” World Cup TV ad campaign has successfully “ambushed” the efforts of official tournament sponsors such as Adidas and Coke, according to a new report out today.

Nike’s epic three-minute TV ad, which features flashes of the future lives of stars such as Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo as they succeed, or fail, during a tournament, has been a significant factor in building massive online buzz for the brand.

A study by Nielsen found that Nike has created a significantly bigger “online buzz”, based on an analysis of blogs, message boards and social networking websites, and association to the World Cup than any other brand.

Nike, which is not an official sponsor of the World Cup, had more than twice as many references in relation to the World Cup than official sponsor Adidas.

Adidas had the second highest level of mentions, and therefore share of World Cup buzz, with official sponsors Coca-Cola, Sony and Visa filling out the top five slots.

Carlsberg, which recently launched its own star-studded “best team talk in the world” TV campaign, ranked sixth. The brewer is not an official World Cup sponsor. Official beer sponsor Budweiser did not appear in the top 10 in the report.

Adidas recently struck back with a TV ad featuring celebrities in a remix of the famous cantina scene from the 1977 Star Wars film. The ad launched on 5 June and given Nielsen’s research only covers the period 7 May to 6 June the German sportswear giant will be hoping its digital buzz factor has significantly increased since the report.

“This study shows that compelling, savvy marketing can establish this sort of connection in the eyes of consumers without having to write that expensive sponsorship check,” said Pete Balackshaw, executive vice-president of digital strategy at Nielsen.

Mark Sweney guardian.co.uk, Friday 11 June 2010 15.13 BST

As we approach the semi-finals for the tournament the two games show some potential to be blockbuster clashes or star power and styles. But a very quick fly through as the more pressing issue would be more, “classless” elements of the game.

1. Uruguay vs. Netherlands - anyone who watched the Uruguay and Ghana quarter final witnessed the most exhilarating emotion swinging last 10 minutes in potentially World Cup history. With Ajax striker Luiz Suarez intentionally batting down what would be the game winner in the last minute of the extended 30 minute play (more on this later), to Asamoah Gyan missing the penalty kick. To Sebastian Abreu of Uruguay pulling the final “Houdini Act” by winning the subsequent penalty shootout. A most bitter way for the last African nation to be knocked out of the world cup. With the Netherlands you had the rallying cry of The Oranje as they chased back from 1-0 down to win it with the head of the smallest guy on the field - Wesley Sneijder. The Dutch carved open the attack-minded Brazilian defense and look to stop Forlan and Suarez-less Uruguay in the next game.

2. Germany vs. Spain - a match of powerhouses, of conflicting styles. The resurgence of youth in Germany with the likes of Ozil and Mueller (though suspended for this game) have brought Germany back in the final four with their swift and powerful attacking precision. Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski - anemic during the regular season in the Bundesliga but electric during the World Ciup have both found their scoring touch with Klose one goal short of tying the record set by Ronaldo as the most goals scored in World Cup history. The Spanish, with their possession-dominating little pass and quick movement style, have been relying heavily on newly signed Barcelona striker David Villa. With their style of passing the ball and capitalizing on that one instance where the defense breaks down on organization, it will be tough for David Villa and strike partner Fernando Torres to exploit a very disciplined German defense.

However the more pressing issues at hand are the not so pretty elements of this World Cup that I’m sure struck a bad chord with viewers:

1. Ghana’s intentional wasting of time against the USA in the Quarter Finals - as Asamoah Gyan scored the go ahead goal early in the extra 30 time, the subsequent minutes were plagued with players faking injury and “requesting” medical assistance from the sidelines, to players taking aeons to pick up the ball from out of bands to put back in play, to the manager substituting the player farthest from the bench only to have him walk across the entire pitch instead of walking out of bounds. All in the effort to eat up as much as the clock as possible limiting the number of chances USA has to grab that late-tying goal. While many viewers were left disgusted by these acts, as a long time footballer myself this is an element of the game that goes both ways. Had the score been in USA’s favors I’m 100% positive the Yanks would have employed certain actions like these themselves. Playing the game for many years everybody develops ways to stall the game. It isn’t so much classless, but rather an element of the game that both sides accept. It is no different from the Quarterback taking a knee to kill the clock, to basketball teams intentionally fouling the opposition, to an intentional walk in baseball.

2. Diving, diving, diving: Cristiano Ronaldo and Didier Drogba are notorious for trying to win over the referee’s calls, but many more players in this tournament were faking injury and pain to win the whistle. Keita’s 30 second acting stint against Kaka earned him a suspension for the next game. In the next Holland game just pay attention to Arjen Robben and the number of dives he employs. This element of the game has resulting in many individuals complaining about the game, as well as its sportsmanship. The only thing I can compare this to is a basketball player leaning in to try to draw the foul - with some audio in the form of screams to help the ref. I will admit this is a part of the game that annoys all fans from the casual to the die-hard. The referees have taken certain steps in trying to eliminate diving (a yellow card in most matches if caught diving) - but with this summer’s poor showing of officiating, many referees have been unable to discern real from fake and with their quick hands have unjustly given yellow and sometimes red cards to innocent defenders.

3. Suarez’s handball against Ghana - As Dominic Adiyiah launched the header that would have surely secured Ghana’s place in the final four, the ball was somehow blocked out of the goal by Luiz Suarez. Closer replay showed that Suarez batted the ball out of his hands with his hands. The referee saw this and gave the Ajax striker a straight red and a penalty kick to Ghana. Many people have asked the gamesmanship of this act. Was Suarez bending the rules? An intentional handball of that is the most deplorable of acts, but as ESPN commentator Steve McManaman commented “we wouldn’t be talking about this handball had Gyan made his penalty kick”. The referee did everything correctly defined by the FIFA laws. Intentional handball, straight red, penalty kick. Unfortunately Gyan wasn’t able to finish his penalty kick. So Uruguay does escape this match. Whether Suarez did this instinctively or knowing full well is up for question, but I can not believe he did not know what he was about to do. In taking this handball, he saved a goal and gave his team another chance in the game. I think he knew full well the implications of his act and felt that they were worth the red card. As famous hand balls go this will definitely get roped in with Maradona’s hand of god. As a football fan, its bittersweet to see the USA-defeaters eliminated this way, but unfortunately they wrote their own ending to their story. Suarez got the red card, got the suspension from FIFA, and yes it may have been a last ditch effort that defaced his name, but Ghana had every chance in that penalty kick and the shootout that followed to capitalize.

Enjoy the last 4 games of the World Cup, it should be a truly exciting finish!

The idea that Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Fernando Torres and Wayne Rooney would have one goal between them by the time this World Cup reached the quarter-finals was not what the multi-million dollar advertisers had in mind. Only one goal from 15 matches collectively, and that from Ronaldo against North Korea, replete with a bumbling build-up as the ball bounced off the back of his head. The mind boggles.

The glitziest of the World Cup adverts featured a string of luxury poster boys who will not reflect warmly on the South Africa experience. In order of appearance, Nike’s “Write the Future” showcased a rather different outcome than the flat realities of Didier Drogba’s injury, Fabio Cannavaro’s calamities, Rooney’s burning discomfort, Franck Ribéry’s role in the off-pitch mutiny and on-pitch misery, Ronaldinho’s non-appearance, and Ronaldo’s slimline goal return.

The tournament may not be as free-scoring as World Cups past, but as the games hot up the failure of the international game’s most famous faces to find their rhythm becomes increasingly bewildering. The Jabulani ball is clearly not to everybody’s taste – not that it seemed to bother Carlos Tevez the other night – but that alone is too facile an explanation.

For those players involved in high-class domestic leagues and a decent run in the Champions League, it must be a tremendous physical and mental strain to reach the natural climax of a club season, then have a couple of quiet weeks to let the adrenaline ease off, then crank up again with pre-tournament training and be expected to hit the World Cup running.

Such worries did not seem to trouble Spain two years ago at the European Championship, when they excelled and entertained in equal measure. But too much of this World Cup has been more like the Spain of old, much fancied only to flatter in bursts and falter in the end.

Torres blamed it all on that embarrassing trip against the Swiss. “The fact we needed to win our subsequent games, along with the anxiety that brings, stopped us playing the way we would have liked,” he said. The relaxed manner of their win over 10-man Chile was supposed to have put the anxiety to bed.

Torres was clearly feeling the strain against opponents as well drilled as Portugal. He looked as if he had caught the English disease. A perfectly respectable Premier League season (22 goals in 32 games) was the prelude to a World Cup without impetus. Coming into the competition on the back of knee surgery, he does not look to have recovered anything like the power and potency that makes him such a terror for defenders. He did not even reach the hour mark. A show of strength and a swerving shot after 44 seconds was as good as it got.

Fortunately for Spain, in David Villa they have a striker with goal instincts that cannot be suppressed, and the new Barcelona man proved again that whatever is bothering so many other big names is not bothering him one iota. The delicacy of the approach play from Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernández was delightful. Even in their blander games, Spain can serve up something delicious.

Villa’s razor-sharp reactions, to flick the ball over Eduardo at the second attempt, once again delivered for Spain. His record of 42 goals from 62 caps is astounding. A Paraguay side who laboured to get past Japan are next up. It is not unrealistic for the European Champions to set their hearts on a semi-final against the winner of that enticing clash between Argentina and Germany.

Ronaldo looked suitably grim faced at the end. Portugal’s conservative gameplan functioned well while the game was goalless, but served them no purpose when they were losing. There was no change of plan, no gamble, no framework to unleash something special from their captain.

Ronaldo is hardly renowned for his self-sacrifice, but the discipline required of Carlos Queiroz’s Portugal does not lend itself to a free spirit – even if you are the most valuable player around right now. He has subordinated some of his natural instincts for the cause over this World Cup campaign, although he has not always looked thrilled about it. His frustrations have not been very thickly disguised.

His season was not supposed to be like this. Rewinding to the very start of it all, when his flag was unfurled over the Bernabéu and his price tag set him apart from everything around, he must have expected more. But football, clearly, is seldom written like it is in the swanky adverts.

Amy Lawrence guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 29 June 2010 22.36 BST

Top 3 Questions from ESPN sports writer Bill Simmons:

Question No. 1: What’s been the single best thing about the Cup so far?

I love the Cup because it stripped away all the things about professional sports that I’ve come to despise. No sideline reporters. No JumboTron. No TV timeouts. No onslaught of replays after every half-decent play. No gimmicky team names like the “Heat” or the “Thunder.” (You know what the announcers call Germany? The Germans. I love this.) No announcers breathlessly overhyping everything or saying crazy things to get noticed. We don’t have to watch 82 mostly half-assed games to get to the playoffs. We don’t have 10 graphics on the screen at all times. We don’t have to sit there for four hours waiting for a winner because pitchers are taking 25 seconds to deliver a baseball.

Question No. 2: Why do we wait every four years to have the World Cup?

When I argued recently that the Cup should be every three years, readers flooded me with reasons it couldn’t work: It’s too expensive (apparently the Cup always loses money for whichever country gets it); they’d have to do too much reconfiguring for smaller tournaments already in place (note: I don’t get that argument; that’s like saying you can’t have the Oscars interfering with the SAG Awards or something); people like having it every four years because it’s more meaningful that way (by that logic, you should have sex every four years, too); and most importantly, FIFA never wants to go head-to-head with the Summer Olympics.

Question No. 3: Who will win the 2010 Cup?

I picked Argentina, so I’m sticking with them. Second choice: Brazil. Third choice: Germany. I never understood why people were discounting Argentina solely because of Diego Maradona. How much damage can a soccer coach really do with a stacked team that’s always better than anyone it’s playing? When Bob Bradley screwed up the Ghana game because of his inexplicable “Screw it, I’m not starting my best 11 guys” strategy, that’s a different story: We couldn’t beat Ghana unless we played well and avoided any major boners. How can you screw up a team with superstuds like Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez on it?

I have to admit, I haven’t played a soccer video game since the last installment of FIFA World Cup (2006), so I am by no means an expert in the field.  But, this will definitely be an unbiased report. 

Let’s start with first impressions.  The graphics are simply stunning.  EA nailed everything right down to Landon Donovan’s receding hairline.  The stadiums and scenery are beautiful.  However, one would come to expect this from video games in 2010.  The more important questions concern the game play.  The awesome graphics engine does not sacrifice anything in the way of game play.  The player animations and movements are incredibly fluid and realistic and seem to be much improved from the soccer games that I’ve played in the past.  There is also a great sense of intensity and emotion in the action and pace of the game.  While playing, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, which makes for an addicting experience and a lot of sleep deprivation.

On to the features…199 national teams are available along with all 10 World Cup stadiums from this year’s tournament.  Players can carry their favorite team through the World Cup Tournament in the traditional mode or choose to “Captain” their way to the World Cup all the way from the qualification rounds to South Africa.  The Captain Your Country feature is very similar to EA’s NHL Franchise “Be a Pro Mode.”  Players create a player and only control that player during game play.  Obviously, in order to advance, a player’s team must win, but players are scored individually on a number of criteria each half.  This affects World Cup roster spots, as players start on the B team and have to work their way up the ranks.  

For the first time ever, players can compete for the World Cup Online in a full-scale tournament starting with the group stage.  Pretty neat, huh?

 I must say, that I found the “Captain Your Country” Mode to be pretty frustrating.  Unlike hockey, there is a lot of field to cover, so you spend most of the game just running up and down.  It’s hard to have an impact.  On the contrast, the traditional game play was super addicting!  The controls are very intuitive and easy to pick up.  As I said before, EA did a fantastic job of capturing the intensity and emotions of the World Cup experience.  Overall, I give this game an 8.0 out of 10.  I highly recommend picking it up for Xbox 360 or PS3…it may help with the World Cup hangover in a few weeks.

Don’t take my word for it, read about it on the internet

http://fifa-world-cup.easports.com/home.action

Hey —

Thanks so much for your amazing support during our World Cup run.

I know we had a tough end to the tournament, but I’m proud of our guys and all the fans like you who stood behind us. Together, we took another big step forward for U.S. soccer.

But we still have work to do. The winning goal against Algeria was one of the greatest feelings I have ever experienced. I can only imagine how that goal would have felt if it had happened in the United States.

FIFA will announce its choice of hosts for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments on December 2nd. That gives us five months to make our case for why FIFA should pick the U.S.

So far, more than 764,000 people have signed the petition supporting our Bid. That’s a ton of signatures, but we can go bigger.

Let’s set our goal above and beyond one million!

One million signatures mean one million reasons for the U.S. to host the FIFA World Cup™. Help us reach our goal by spreading the word to everyone you know:

http://gousabid.com/onemillion

Our team and our fans — both at home and in South Africa — left it all out there on and off the field during the tournament. Let’s put the same energy and dedication into our Bid to host the World Cup.

Thanks again for all your support.

— Landon Donovan

While the United States was booted out of the World Cup by Ghana last Saturday in extra time, the “other” big match of the weekend scored big - in a record way.

According to Nielsen, nearly 9.4 million people watched the Argentina vs. Mexico game on Univision on Sunday. Additionally, 5.5 million people watched that game on ESPN (and if you’re not great with numbers, that is 14.9 million viewers of one soccer game on television in the US in which the game does not include the US as one of the teams).

Anyone familiar with Spanish-language television knows that the telenovelas Univision runs in prime time are the top-ranking programs on the network. Univision’s previous ratings record was 9 million viewers for the finale of “Destilando Amor” (Distilling Love) in 2007.

A previous opinion piece by Wayne Friedman shared on the PHD World Cup blog indicates that soccer is not something that is going to catch on in the US anytime soon outside of the World Cup, but Cesar Conde - Univision president - seems to disagree. “It’s very indicative of the changing face of America and consequently the growth of soccer in the United States,” he said in a June 29th report carried by the Associated Press. “That’s a great trend on both fronts.”

And back to that pesky USA vs. Ghana match on Saturday? It raked in 19.4 million viewers - a larger audience than ever before for soccer on American television (nearly 15 million viewers tuned in on ABC with the remainder tuning in on Univision).

The elimination of both the United States and Mexico takes away two favorites for Univision’s large Mexican-American audience, but Conde believes there are other South American teams that offer a rooting interest - and four years ago, Univision’s audience actually grew following the Mexican team’s elimination.

England manager Fabio Capello has bemoaned the low percentage of eligible [English] players he has for his squad who play in the English Premier League – only 35% – and privately admitted that beyond a core of 14-15 players he trusts, he has a relatively shallow pool of talent.  While the English League is arguably the strongest in the world (after all, only a year ago two English clubs played in the Champions League final – Manchester United vs. Chelsea – and unusually, 10 of the 22 starters were English), most of the team sheets are chock full of foreign talent.  This is not the case in other top club leagues. 

Internationally speaking, having suffered the “humiliation” of losing to Croatia in the quarter-finals of World Cup 1998 and failing to get out of the group stages of Euro 2000 (compounded by a 1-0 defeat to a mediocre England), the bosses at the German Football Association sat down with their counterparts at the Bundesliga (German elite club league) and came up with a plan: a 500m-euro investment in youth.

As a result, Germany has almost 13 times as many qualified coaches as England, more home-grown talent playing in its top league (Europe’s most profitable) and a crop of young players who have now beaten England 4-0 in the 2009 European U-21 Final and 4-1 at the 2010 World Cup.

Sir Alex Ferguson, manager of perennial winners Manchester United and the Gandalf of the pro-soccer world had this to say, at the start of the World Cup finals – “Germany take that month-long break in January and they always seem to do better in World Cups than anyone ever expects. Even though they are not as strong as German teams of the past, they still manage to do something in World Cups”.  This point cannot be understated.  Players in the English Premier League slog through the freezing month of January, usually hoping to ignite their end-of-season push.  As the old saying goes “you can’t win the league in January, but you can definitely lose it”. 

It appears England has suffered from the rapid and aggressive growth in the Premier League and a serious lack of focus on grass roots football.  The desire for this rapid success has led to short term fixes in the form of technically superior, foreign player and manager recruitment to fill the gaps left by the under-nurtured domestic talent.  Surely the knock-on effect has been less opportunity for English players and managers, a shrinking pool of available talent and ultimately a dearth of candidates to compete at the top level.  Unfortunately for the English, their expectation of success remains extremely, and perhaps unreasonably high.